Cyclists using Woking railway station can now benefit from a free weather-proof cycle hub to park their bikes, complete with on-hand maintenance equipment.

The hub, tucked into the station car park, has space for 216 bikes and is free to use on a first-come, first-served basis.

Monitored by CCTV cameras both inside and outside, the hub includes a bike pump, maintenance kit and a travel update screen, with details of bus and train times.

The result of a multi-party initiative between the Cycle Rail Working Group, the Department for Transport, Woking Borough Council, Surrey County Council, South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance and the Association of Train Operating Companies, the hub means to entice more commuters to cycle to the station, leave their cars at home and adopting a cheaper and more active lifestyle.

Speaking at the official opening last Thursday (September 11), leader of Woking Borough Council, Councillor John Kingsbury, said: "Through the partnership with the South West Trains and Network Rail Alliance, we have been able jointly to contribute £100,000 towards this excellent facility - a facility which I hope will expand as we grow our town."

Woking is one of four 'Growth Towns' identified by the government and has secured a deal of £7.5m to improve pedestrian and cycle movement through Victoria Arch, plus a further £8.3m to improve infrastructure for all types of transport around the town.

The official opening of the new cycle hub with Arthur Pretorious, customer services director at South West Trains, and Robert Goodwill MP

Making his first visit to Woking, parliamentary under-secretary of state for transport, Robert Goodwill, unveiled a plaque and said he was pleased to see the hub was already full, a month after it was installed.

A cyclist himself, he said the government was actively "getting people into the habit" by doubling spending on cycling and that it was a convenient and safe mode of transport.

After a tour of the hub, which included a demonstration of putting bikes onto the two-tier racks, the minister said: "My first reaction is that it's nearly full already, imagine how much bigger the car park would be for all these people parking cars.

"I have not seen something like this, you see bikes at all major stations but this is on a high-level stage, it has been very well thought through.

"It's cost-effective, a two-car family could go to a one-car family but I wouldn't expect everyone to cycle if [for example] there's been heavy snow on the ground," he said.

In the wake of the London Olympics, government initiatives to get the public cycling include changes to signalling, cycle highways and designated cycling routes.

"The perception of danger is not born out of the statistics," the minister told Get Surrey.

"Three times as many people in this country drown in lakes, rivers and the sea than are killed on bikes."

Adding to its accessibility, the hub's lightweight racks allow cyclists to push their bike on, lock up and secure it in place with ease.

Conrad Haigh, from the Cycle Rail Working Group, said that almost 8,000 new bike spaces had been fitted in the UK over the past year, adding that Woking was also home to a Brompton folding bike hire station, with about 20 available and costing £2.50 per day to use.